Beta Combat System
Combat Phases Scouting Phase- This allows players a number of things, including possible choice of terrain, advantages in later rolls, and various tactical options. Marching Phase- Moving your troops where they need to be. Maneuvering can be risky. Outmaneuvering the enemy can give you a huge advantage, screwing up can leave your forces vulnerable. Logistics Phase- Are your troops provided for? Do they have enough food, water, and properly maintained gear? Did your cavalry get to graze? Different means can be pursued here, I'm thinking there's Forage, Reserves, and Supply Lines here as options. Combat!- Troops actually fight and engage the enemy. There will be maneuvering and repositioning within this phase of course, and multiple options for engagement or retreat. Aftermath/Odds & Ends- Where we figure out what happened and how it affects further rounds and territory. Combat Options Each unit can do one of these each round. Charge- Exactly what it sounds like. The unit charges forward to engage the enemy. Straight up melee, with unit, circumstantial, and terrain bonuses. (I'm thinking it's unmodified Melee with damage lessened by armor.) Hold- Hold position, possibly standing against an enemy charge. Fortifications, terrain, and formations can give bonuses. Taking on a phalanx formation behind a short wall isn't exactly a worry free proposition. (Similar to charge with different modifiers.) Skirmish- Harassment, raiding, hit and run attacks. Less damage given and taken, but can disrupt enemy movement and coordination. Units will both shoot, throw weapons, and skirmish at close range. Pulling up to skirmish damage lets archers etc. do more damage but puts them at greater risk. (I'm thinking something like Melee + Shoot + Maneuver-Armor Divided by two. Less damage overall, less damage taken. Still, light infantry can mill heavy infantry down to nothing in the right circumstances, as can light cavalry.) Shoot- Exactly what it sounds like. Units will engage from long range. Units shooting can only take damage from other shooting units, but they can be reached via maneuver and melee from units within range. Position matters with shooters, as putting them at the top of a hill or in protected terrain is advised. (Straight up shoot vs armor, terrain and weather factor in, as does distance, but distance will be somewhat abstract.) Ambush- Units can attempt to conceal themselves and attack from ambush. This works best if you have other units distracting the enemy by maneuvering or attacking from other quarters. Scouting helps with this, as well as serving to defend against this. This strategy is risky, as if it doesn't work your unit operates at reduced effectiveness. (This will I think be variable. Risky enough that you don't just spam it, but situationally useful enough that it's viable.) Maneuver- Circumstances change. Sometimes you want to move your units. Has sub-options. (Maneuver will, I think, have a stat modifier.) Flank (Envelop)- Surrounding the enemy or hitting them at a weak corner is always nice. It's so nice that most people guard against it, but if you can pull it off or at the very least hit the enemy's rear to disrupt communications it can be highly effective. (Maneuver based.) False Retreat- Maneuver sub option. Pull enemy unit into a new position, possibly away from support or into unfavorable terrain. Provokes a roll off with some modifiers. (Will depend upon Maneuver and a number of other factors.) Withdraw- Maneuver sub option. Sometimes it is a better idea to conserve your forces than to fight a losing battle. This is for cutting and running. (Maneuver based.) Miscellaneous- Trojan horses, Wagenburg, various oddball tactics, and anything that doesn't fit into the other actions goes here. We'll decide how this works on a case by case basis, but there will be general rules for this. Night Attack- Any of the above options, save performed at night. We're going with Von Clausewitz on this: it's hard to pull off, and it is unlikely that you are going to just roll over and wipe out an enemy force even if you pull it off. Best used against specific components of an enemy force. Risky in many ways, as moving at Night can result in accidents. Psychological Warfare- Not sure if I'm not just going to put this under Miscellaneous or not. If not, then this will also have its niche in combat. Units: Types and Stats (In progress, I'm not sold on how I'm currently doing stats.) Units will have stats based on dice rolled and numbers. Not completely sold on what stats will be. Thinking something like... Longbowmen (Archers): Melee: 1d4 Shooting: 1d6 Maneuver: +3 (Foot) Armor: 0 Knight Company (Heavy Cavalry): Melee: 1d10 Shooting: NA Maneuver: +4 (Cavalry) Armor: 5 Mongol Horse Archers (Horse Archer): Melee: 1d4 Shooting: 1d8 Maneuver: +5 (Cavalry) Armor: 1 Mongol Lancer (Light Cavalry): Melee: 1d6 Shooting: 1d6 Maneuver: +5 (Cavalry) Armor: 1 Terrain This is pretty important. The winner of the scouting/maneuver standoff often has an edge here, but the defender and/or local often gets to pick their battles and knows local chokepoints or already holds fortifications in an area. Terrain can be the difference between total slaughter and total victory. Light infantry pouring into a narrow pass defended by Heavy Infantry will end a bunch of dead light infantry (We're looking at you, Thermopylae). On the other hand, heavy infantry lured into the forest by a false retreat then confronted by more maneuverable skirmishers who can hit them when their formations are broken up (War of Fire and Teutoburg Forest). You usually put your archers on a hilltop, and you want to make a cavalry charge downhill etc. Don't underestimate terrain. Officers What I'm thinking so far is this: you can assign officers to groups of units. Commanders give bonuses to specific actions, NCOs improve unit discipline and morale, and Relays give bonuses to coordination and joint maneuver. Scouts scout. Engineers make fortifications and roads etc. Medics keep troops in fighting order and can patch up mauled units. This is still pending, not sure if I like this idea yet or not. Supplies This is going to be an important part of warfare. Failure to keep your troops adequately supplied can result in anything from weakened forces to having soldiers die while on the march. Thus, it is a perfectly acceptable strategy to starve or dehydrate an enemy. I'm thinking a few specific types of supply methods. Supply Lines: A line from your base to the front. You roll for it based on the difficulty of the terrain and distance, but it should be fairly reliable. It can, however, be disrupted. Reserves: What you are carrying with you. Wagons and ships carry a lot of supplies, but supplies can dwindle, be destroyed, or made off with. Not indefinite, but very useful. Foraging: Good old Napoleonic style foraging. This boils down to a combination of Pillaging small towns and cities and hunting and gathering. It requires a scouting roll, and possibly a maneuver roll to acquire the supplies and distribute them. Navies I'm going to try and balance these by making them more useful. Movement: This is self explanatory at the basic level, you can move troops via ship across seas and lakes. However, I'm throwing in a twist: you can use rivers too. That said, moving troops via river requires something like Viking Longboats or Canoes, and you have to locate rivers using scouting rolls with modifiers based on the terrain type. In some places like deserts I may simply rule that it isn't going to happen. That said, your troops can hop around rivers in their ships, allowing them to move quickly within a limited area. Supplies: Navies can serve as sources of reserve supplies for troops in their immediate area, and supply lines can originate from them so long as they are not threatened or disrupted. Combat: Naval Combat is something I'll have to work out, but it will probably be a lot like land based combat. Category:Rules Category:Muskets and Mages